Sustainability
Sustainability or being sustainable is the ability to continue over a long period of time.[1][2] In modern usage it generally refers to a state in which the environment, economy, and society will continue to exist over a long period of time.[3] Many definitions emphasize the environmental dimension.[4][5] This can include addressing key environmental problems, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. The idea of sustainability can guide decisions at the global, national, organizational, and individual levels.[6] A related concept is that of sustainable development, and the terms are often used to mean the same thing. "Sustainability is often thought of as a long-term goal (i.e. a more sustainable world), while sustainable development refers to the many processes and pathways to achieve it."[7]
Details around the economic dimension of sustainability are controversial.[8] Scholars have discussed this under the concept of weak and strong sustainability. For example, there will always be tension between the ideas of "welfare and prosperity for all" and environmental conservation,[9][8] so trade-offs are necessary. It would be desirable to find ways that separate economic growth from harming the environment.[10] This means using fewer resources per unit of output even while growing the economy.[11] This decoupling reduces the environmental impact of economic growth, such as pollution. Doing this is difficult.[12][13]
It is challenging to measure sustainability as the concept is complex, contextual, and dynamic.[14] Indicators have been developed to cover the environment, society, or the economy but there is no fixed definition of sustainability indicators.[15] The metrics are evolving and include indicators, benchmarks, and audits. They include sustainability standards and certification systems, like Fairtrade and Organic. They also involve indices and accounting systems, such as corporate sustainability reporting and triple Bottom Line accounting.
It is necessary to address many barriers to sustainability to achieve a sustainability transition or sustainability transformation.[6]: 34 [16] Some barriers arise from nature and its complexity while others are extrinsic to the concept of sustainability. For example, they can result from the dominant institutional frameworks in countries.
Global issues of sustainability are difficult to tackle because they need global solutions. Existing global organizations such as the UN and WTO are seen as inefficient in enforcing current global regulations. One reason for this is the lack of suitable sanctioning mechanisms.[6]: 135–145 Governments are not the only sources of action for sustainability. For example, business groups have tried to integrate ecological concerns with economic activity, seeking sustainable business.[17][18] Religious leaders have stressed the need for caring for nature and environmental stability. Individuals can also choose to live more sustainably.[6]
Some people have criticized the idea of sustainability. One point of criticism is that the concept is vague and only a buzzword.[19][8] Another is that sustainability might be an impossible goal.[20] Some experts have pointed out that "no country is delivering what its citizens need without transgressing the biophysical planetary boundaries".[21]: 11
Definitions
[edit]Current usage
[edit]Sustainability is regarded as a "normative concept".[6][22][23][24] This means it is based on what people value or find desirable: "The quest for sustainability involves connecting what is known through scientific study to applications in pursuit of what people want for the future."[23]
The 1983 UN Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) had a big influence on the use of the term sustainability today. The commission's 1987 Brundtland Report provided a definition of sustainable development. The report, Our Common Future, defines it as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".[25][26] The report helped bring sustainability into the mainstream of policy discussions. It also popularized the concept of sustainable development.[8]
Some other key concepts to illustrate the meaning of sustainability include:[23]
- It may be a fuzzy concept, but in a positive sense: the goals are more important than the approaches or means applied.
- It connects with other essential concepts, such as resilience, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability.
- Choices matter: "it is not possible to sustain everything, everywhere, forever".
- Scale matters in both space and time, and place matters.
- Limits exist (see planetary boundaries).
In everyday usage, sustainability often focuses on the environmental dimension.[27]
Specific definitions
[edit]A single specific definition of sustainability may never be possible, but the concept is still useful.[24][23] There have been attempts to define it, for example:
- "Sustainability can be defined as the capacity to maintain or improve the state and availability of desirable materials or conditions over the long term."[23]
- "Sustainability [is] the long-term viability of a community, set of social institutions, or societal practice. In general, sustainability is understood as a form of intergenerational ethics in which the environmental and economic actions taken by present persons do not diminish the opportunities of future persons to enjoy similar levels of wealth, utility, or welfare."[28]
- "Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In addition to natural resources, we also need social and economic resources. Sustainability is not just environmentalism. Embedded in most definitions of sustainability we also find concerns for social equity and economic development."[29]
Some definitions focus on the environmental dimension. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines sustainability as: "the property of being environmentally sustainable; the degree to which a process or enterprise is able to be maintained or continued while avoiding the long-term depletion of natural resources".[30]
Historical usage
[edit]The term sustainability is derived from the Latin word sustinere. "To sustain" can mean to maintain, support, uphold, or endure.[31][32] So sustainability is the ability to continue over a long period of time.
In the past, sustainability referred to environmental sustainability. It meant using natural resources so that people in the future could continue to rely on them in the long term.[33][34] The concept of sustainability, or Nachhaltigkeit in German, goes back to Hans Carl von Carlowitz (1645–1714), and applied to forestry. The term for this now would be sustainable forest management.[35] He used this term to mean the long-term responsible use of a natural resource. In his 1713 work Silvicultura oeconomica,[36] he wrote that "the highest art/science/industriousness [...] will consist in such a conservation and replanting of timber that there can be a continuous, ongoing and sustainable use".[37] The shift in use of "sustainability" from preservation of forests (for future wood production) to broader preservation of environmental resources (to sustain the world for future generations) traces to a 1972 book by Ernst Basler, based on a series of lectures at M.I.T.[38]
The idea itself goes back a long time: Communities have always worried about the capacity of their environment to sustain them in the long term. Many ancient cultures, traditional societies, and indigenous peoples have restricted the use of natural resources.[39]
Comparison to sustainable development
[edit]The terms sustainability and sustainable development are closely related. In fact, they are often used to mean the same thing.[28] Both terms are linked with the "three dimensions of sustainability" concept.[8] One distinction is that sustainability is a general concept, while sustainable development can be a policy or organizing principle. Scholars say sustainability is a broader concept because sustainable development focuses mainly on human well-being.[23]
Sustainable development has two linked goals. It aims to meet human development goals.[40] It also aims to enable natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services needed for economies and society. The concept of sustainable development has come to focus on economic development, social development and environmental protection for future generations.[41]
Dimensions
[edit]Development of three dimensions
[edit]
Scholars usually distinguish three different areas of sustainability. These are the environmental, the social, and the economic. Several terms are in use for this concept. Authors may speak of three pillars, dimensions, components, aspects,[42] perspectives, factors, or goals. All mean the same thing in this context.[8] The three dimensions paradigm has few theoretical foundations.[8]
The popular three intersecting circles, or Venn diagram, representing sustainability first appeared in a 1987 article by the economist Edward Barbier.[8][43]
Scholars rarely question the distinction itself. The idea of sustainability with three dimensions is a dominant interpretation in the literature.[8]
In the Brundtland Report, the environment and development are inseparable and go together in the search for sustainability. It described sustainable development as a global concept linking environmental and social issues. It added sustainable development is important for both developing countries and industrialized countries:
The 'environment' is where we all live; and 'development' is what we all do in attempting to improve our lot within that abode. The two are inseparable. [...] We came to see that a new development path was required, one that sustained human progress not just in a few pieces for a few years, but for the entire planet into the distant future. Thus 'sustainable development' becomes a goal not just for the 'developing' nations, but for industrial ones as well.
— Our Common Future (also known as the Brundtland Report), [25]: Foreword and Section I.1.10
The Rio Declaration from 1992 is seen as "the foundational instrument in the move towards sustainability".[44]: 29 It includes specific references to ecosystem integrity.[44]: 31 The plan associated with carrying out the Rio Declaration also discusses sustainability in this way. The plan, Agenda 21, talks about economic, social, and environmental dimensions:[45]: 8.6
Countries could develop systems for monitoring and evaluation of progress towards achieving sustainable development by adopting indicators that measure changes across economic, social and environmental dimensions.
Agenda 2030 from 2015 also viewed sustainability in this way. It sees the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their 169 targets as balancing "the three dimensions of sustainable development, the economic, social and environmental".[46]
Hierarchy
[edit]
Scholars have discussed how to rank the three dimensions of sustainability. Many publications state that the environmental dimension is the most important.[4][5] (Planetary integrity or ecological integrity are other terms for the environmental dimension.)
Protecting ecological integrity is the core of sustainability according to many experts.[5] If this is the case then its environmental dimension sets limits to economic and social development.[5]
The diagram with three nested ellipses is one way of showing the three dimensions of sustainability together with a hierarchy. It gives the environmental dimension a special status. In this diagram, the environment includes society, and society includes economic conditions. Thus, it stresses a hierarchy.
This nested hierarchy has led some scholars and Indigenous thinkers to call for decentering the human in sustainability discourse,[48] arguing that ecological systems should not merely be valued for their utility to humans but as interdependent life systems with intrinsic worth.[48]
Another model shows the three dimensions in a similar way: In this SDG wedding cake model, the economy is a smaller subset of the societal system. And the societal system in turn is a smaller subset of the biosphere system.[49]
In 2022 an assessment examined the political impacts of the Sustainable Development Goals. The assessment found that the "integrity of the earth's life-support systems" was essential for sustainability.[4]: 140 The authors said that "the SDGs fail to recognize that planetary, people and prosperity concerns are all part of one earth system, and that the protection of planetary integrity should not be a means to an end, but an end in itself".[4]: 147 The aspect of environmental protection is not an explicit priority for the SDGs. This causes problems as it could encourage countries to give the environment less weight in their developmental plans.[4]: 144 The authors state that "sustainability on a planetary scale is only achievable under an overarching Planetary Integrity Goal that recognizes the biophysical limits of the planet".[4]: 161
Other frameworks bypass the compartmentalization of sustainability into separate dimensions completely.[8]
Environmental sustainability
[edit]
The environmental dimension is central to the overall concept of sustainability. People became more and more aware of environmental pollution in the 1960s and 1970s. This led to discussions on sustainability and sustainable development. This process began in the 1970s with concern for environmental issues. These included natural ecosystems or natural resources and the human environment. It later extended to all systems that support life on Earth, including human society.[50]: 31 Reducing these negative impacts on the environment would improve environmental sustainability.[50][51]
Environmental pollution is not a new phenomenon. But it has been only a local or regional concern for most of human history. Awareness of global environmental issues increased in the 20th century.[50]: 5 [52] The harmful effects and global spread of pesticides like DDT came under scrutiny in the 1960s.[53] In the 1970s it emerged that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were depleting the ozone layer. This led to the de facto ban of CFCs with the Montreal Protocol in 1987.[6]: 146
In the early 20th century, Arrhenius discussed the effect of greenhouse gases on the climate (see also: history of climate change science).[54] Climate change due to human activity became an academic and political topic several decades later. This led to the establishment of the IPCC in 1988 and the UNFCCC in 1992.
In 1972, the UN Conference on the Human Environment took place. It was the first UN conference on environmental issues. It stated it was important to protect and improve the human environment.[55]: 3 It emphasized the need to protect wildlife and natural habitats:[55]: 4
The natural resources of the earth, including the air, water, land, flora and fauna and [...] natural ecosystems must be safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations through careful planning or management, as appropriate.
— UN Conference on the Human Environment, [55]: p.4., Principle 2
In 2000, the UN launched eight Millennium Development Goals. The aim was for the global community to achieve them by 2015. Goal 7 was to "ensure environmental sustainability". But this goal did not mention the concepts of social or economic sustainability.[8]
Specific problems often dominate public discussion of the environmental dimension of sustainability: In the 21st century these problems have included climate change, biodiversity and pollution. Other global problems are loss of ecosystem services, land degradation, environmental impacts of animal agriculture and air and water pollution, including marine plastic pollution and ocean acidification.[56][57] Many people worry about human impacts on the environment. These include impacts on the atmosphere, land, and water resources.[50]: 21
Human activities now have an impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems. This led Paul Crutzen to call the current geological epoch the Anthropocene.[58]
The importance of citizens in accomplishing climate change adaptation, mitigation, and more general sustainable development objectives is being emphasized more and more by urban climate change governance (Hegger, Mees, & Wamsler, 2022).[59] The Sustainable Development Goals and the Glasgow Climate Pact are two recent international agreements that acknowledge that sustainability transformations depend on both individual and social attitudes, values, and behaviors in addition to technical solutions (IPCC, 2022; Wamsler et al., 2021).[59] Through their roles as voters, activists, consumers, and community members—particularly in decision-making, information co-production, and localized self-governance initiatives—citizens are seen as crucial change agents (Mees et al., 2016; Wamsler, 2017).[59]
Economic sustainability
[edit]The economic dimension of sustainability is controversial.[8] This is because the term development within sustainable development can be interpreted in different ways. Some may take it to mean only economic development and growth. This can promote an economic system that is bad for the environment.[60][61][62] Others focus more on the trade-offs between environmental conservation and achieving welfare goals for basic needs (food, water, health, and shelter).[9]
Economic development can indeed reduce hunger or energy poverty, especially in the least developed countries. That is why Sustainable Development Goal 8 calls for economic growth to drive social progress and well-being, where indicators include real GDP per capita growth.[63] However, the challenge is to expand economic activities while reducing their environmental impact.[11]: 8 In other words, humanity will have to find ways how societal progress (potentially by economic development) can be reached without excess strain on the environment.
The Brundtland report says poverty causes environmental problems. Poverty also results from them. So addressing environmental problems requires understanding the factors behind world poverty and inequality.[25]: Section I.1.8 The report demands a new development path for sustained human progress. It highlights that this is a goal for both developing and industrialized nations.[25]: Section I.1.10
UNEP and UNDP launched the Poverty-Environment Initiative in 2005 which has three goals. These are reducing extreme poverty, greenhouse gas emissions, and net natural asset loss. This guide to structural reform will enable countries to achieve the SDGs.[64][65]: 11 It should also show how to address the trade-offs between ecological footprint and economic development.[6]: 82
Social sustainability
[edit]The social dimension of sustainability is not well defined.[66][67][68] One definition states that a society is sustainable in social terms if people do not face structural obstacles in key areas. These key areas are health, influence, competence, impartiality and meaning-making.[69]
Some scholars place social issues at the very center of discussions.[70] They suggest that all the domains of sustainability are social. These include ecological, economic, political, and cultural sustainability. These domains all depend on the relationship between the social and the natural. The ecological domain is defined as human embeddedness in the environment. From this perspective, social sustainability encompasses all human activities.[71] It goes beyond the intersection of economics, the environment, and the social.[72]
There are many broad strategies for more sustainable social systems. They include improved education and the political empowerment of women. This is especially the case in developing countries. They include greater regard for social justice. This involves equity between rich and poor both within and between countries. And it includes intergenerational equity.[73] Providing more social safety nets to